Yahoo News Our House ending explained as Martin Compston talks Bram's heartbreaking decision
Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide that some readers may find upsetting.
Our House spoilers follow.
ITV drama Our House came to its dramatic and heartbreaking conclusion tonight (March 10) with Martin Compston labelling the role "the most emotional job he's ever done".
Over the past week, viewers have been hooked as Bram (played by the Line of Duty star) was blackmailed into selling his £2 million London home after being involved in a car crash that left a child dead.
With Toby/Mike (Rupert Penry-Jones) hot on his heels with incriminating evidence that proves he caused the accident, Bram has been scrambling to keep his estranged wife Fi (Tuppence Middleton) out of it.
Unfortunately, he felt like there was no way out, and in a devastating end for the character, Bram decided to take his life after selling his family home, leaving behind his two sons and Fi wondering what the hell was going on.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, actor Martin Compston admitted the troubled mental anguish Bram found himself in weighed heavily on him as an actor, and it's something that culminates in that scene.
"It was something I've never filmed or done before, and it's a subject that shouldn't be taken lightly," he told us. "And just for those things, you've got to start thinking about different things in your own life and how that would affect and how somebody gets to these certain points.
"I hope people sort of... there's gonna be reactions to it, that's for sure, and you can never really gauge what people's reactions are going to be. So we've done it, it's out there in the world that you see how it goes. But yeah, it wasn't easy to share."
"I think people realise, I'm not saying it lightly, that this is the most emotional job I've ever done," he added.
"Usually, you have three or four scenes which are that intense, so you just have it for about couple of days. For this, it was literally the entire job, which I've never done before. It does seep into you, for sure. It does get down a bit, but you've just got to try and be aware of that and not go too far."
Crediting his co-star Tuppence Middleton and director Sheree Folkson in particular for helping him through the tougher moments of Our House, Martin admits that he found himself seeking the lighter moments on set when he could.
"I just took myself to a hotel out of the way and just stayed there. We still have a laugh on set for sure. I don't buy into the method acting thing of 'Everybody look at me, I'm really depressed'," he added. "I really do think a lot of the method stuff is just self-indulgent, and wanting people to tiptoe around them, but nobody sees that process, all you see is on camera.
"But in general, because you're doing those scenes all day and then you're going home at night to read over the next scenes, yeah you're shedding tears in your hotel room. It isn't just doing the scenes really, because you start to get wrapped up in them, but there's a sort of perverse pleasure at times because when you're getting that dark and depressed, it starts to show on camera. You can feel it."
"You know that you've got to be very careful you don't get too dragged into it," he concluded. "So when all that stuff's done immediately on the phone to the wife [and tell her] 'get down here with the kid please' and then you get back to what's really important in your life."
In the case of Bram in Our House, it becomes obvious that he believes his death will ultimately benefit his family. In a last-ditch effort to correct things with those he loves, he double crosses the manipulative Toby/Mike and instead of transferring the money to him, sends it to Fi instead.
He then leaves behind a taped confession about his involvement in the car crash as a suicide note.
However, in another bitter twist, his attempts to clear his conscience before dying actually sets off an even worse chain of events for Fi.
After discovering that her new boyfriend Toby/Mike (we never find out his real name) is behind Bram's odd behaviour, the situation turns violent for her as he continues to demand money from the family.
In an effort to get one up on him, she invites him to wait at Bram's flat, where they spend the evening drinking wine.
However, Fi has slipped far too many drugs into his drink, and instead of knocking him out, she flat-out kills him.
Recruiting her neighbour and best friend Merle (Weruche Opia) to help her figure out what to do, Fi goes along with a plan to claim to police she had found him in the flat, claiming he was a stranger she'd never seen before.
Just as she thinks she's out of the woods, the police arrive at her door and arrest her – as Bram's confession reveals that she's lying about not knowing who Toby/Mike was, and is therefore more than likely his killer.
Led away in handcuffs, it's clear that no one has won in this horrific game of cat-and-mouse, with the Lawsons' two sons now being left parentless by their actions.
Our House is available in full now on ITV Player.
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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